District soccer: Eagles claim state berth; Monte edged in district title game

State-bound Montesano, meanwhile, was frustrated in its bid for a district championship.

The Eagles nipped Tenino, 3-2, in the winner-to-state, loser-out third-place game in the District IV Class 1A Girls Soccer Tournament on Nov. 4 at Rottle Field.

King’s Way Christian, meanwhile, made a first-half goal stand up to beat Montesano, 1-0, in the district title contest later in the day.

Both East County teams will advance to state Wednesday.

Montesano (14-3-1) will host reigning state champion Overlake in a opening-round game scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Rottle Field. Elma (12-5-2) visits King’s of Shoreline, also at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Eagles 3, Beavers 2

After losing to King’s Way on Thursday, the Eagles were in a win-or-go-home situation and responded to the high stakes of the match with improved defense in the first half.

The Beavers kept trying to hit forward Brieanna Doll with the lead pass but the Eagles kept the passing lanes clogged for most of the first half.

Doll did eventually score in the 37th minute to break the seal on the game when he finally found some running room to put the Beavers up 1-0.

Elma head coach Scott Rockey said he was able to jump-start his offense a little bit by making some minor adjustments to his line-up that allowed for better possession along the wings.

“It worked out really well and we obviously had more midfield possession than we had before,” he said. “We were able to play wide a little bit better. We didn’t have a different line up we just put players in different places.”

Jillian Bieker responded with a goal early in the second half when she converted on a cross when the ball was sent into the box and bounced past Tenino’s keeper.

Elma’s Brooke Sutherby came up big again in the 52nd minute and converted on a penalty kick when a foul was called in the box.

Elma now had the lead but the Eagles needed a little bit of luck to expand the lead and secure the victory.

A cross from Sutherby was played into the box but a Tenino defender’s attempt to clear the ball away from danger ended in an own goal that gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead at the time.

Tenino continued to fight down two goals with less than 20 minutes left and got another goal from Doll on a shot from along the edges of the box that made it under the crossbar to make it a one goal contest again.

From there the Beavers kept pushing and got several scoring opportunities down the stretch. Courtney Dodge had a shot that almost tied the game in stoppage time but goalkeeper Holli Ray made her biggest save of the match and smothered the ball before it could cross the goal line.

Tenino head coach Adam Barr said he was proud of his team despite the result but was a little disappointed in the officiating.

“They played really well and fought really hard and they were on top of it for most of the game,” he said. “But some of the calls weren’t in our favor. A lot of calls went against us.”

In addition to the penalty kick they surrendered, the Beavers were penalized with four yellow cards.

Rockey said he was proud of the way his team worked together in the second half and is looking forward to the state tournament.

“We just wanted to get the girls to work together and work for the right reasons,” he said. “We had a good talk at halftime and I think it made a difference.”

King’s Way 1, Montesano 0

Monte got off to a slow start but played even with the Knights in the first half. King’s Way’s Elise Schey had the only goal of the match, getting her head on a long cross in the 29th minute.

The second half did not include any more scoring but looked a lot different from the opening 40 minutes that featured a lot of play in the midfield.

Monte did not find the equalizer but peppered the frame with a number of shot attempts. The Bulldogs had three shots hit off the posts and cross bar in the second half as they controlled the play for nearly 40 minutes.

Fidel Sanchez said better passing helped the offense generate more chances in the second half.

“We gave away the ball too much in the first half so we just wanted to focus on not giving the ball back,” he said. “We made some adjustments where we took a defender out and put another player up front so we could get a tying goal.”

“It’s just an unlucky day because normally those (shots) go in for us,” he said.

Sanchez highlighted Samantha Stanfield who put a lot of pressure on King’s Way’s back line. He was also impressed with Brooke Streeter and Lauren Denholm for their work in the midfield.